Yesterday was officially Veteran’s Day but American’s have developed a resistance to celebrating our holiday’s on weekends. All those long work days make us crave a reason to have some time off during the work week. So, for many today will be the day that they pause to honor our veterans.

The Golden Corral restaurant chain is celebrating by giving a free meal and drink to any past or present service member and Lowe’s is offering a 10% discount to military personnel and their families.

Recliner Man is a veteran, having served 22 years in the Navy. He was part of the Submarine Service and spent a good chunk of his life under water in a fancy tin can. When he was on sea duty he would be home for about 3 months and then be gone for about 3 1/2 months, coming back home for 3 and then leaving for another 3 1/2. In a way he was lucky, he was on a ballistic submarine and had a set schedule that allowed us to know with some accuracy when he would be home and when he would be out to sea. Sailors on the fast attack subs had a more erratic schedule sometimes having only days notice of deployment and with sea time that could range from days to many months. Either way, it was a challenging life style.

My father was also a career Navy man. I forget now how many years he served.. 21, 22, 23? It was a long time. Like Recliner Man he was also a submarine sailor. It’s funny, I can remember the times when he came home from sea but I don’t remember any of the farewells.

I suppose it has a lot to do with us living in a Navy town but both of my sisters also married sailors. I like to think that Veteran’s Day is also for those of us who stood by our military spouses. In many ways the military spouse turns their life over to the needs and whims of the military and in that way they too put in their time. Without taking anything away from the actual service members, I offer up my gratitude and appreciation to the Vets and their ‘other halves’.

I recently received an email from my friend, a retired Army wife. It is a plea for Americans to remember the wounded Vets at Christmas time with a card. It’s a nice way to brighten the life of someone who served on our behalf. I’ll share it with you along with my own request that you send a card. One human reaching out to touch another human. It’s what makes life worth living.

Update: I removed the email text. Thanks Trish for the heads up! It was a good idea gone bad… you can read about it on Snopes. I’m usually one of the first to check out e-mails on Snopes but this one didn’t raise any red flags for me. Oh well, there is one born every day…